In March 2020 just days before their Spring concert St George's Singers, like all other choirs, were forced to suspend rehearsals and cancel all concerts. The choir was not silenced for long; SGS soon became a virtual choir with the help of some clever software and a great deal of hard work by their chairman, musical director and accompanist. For the whole of the 2020-21 season they continued to learn new music together and even held two virtual Singing Days when singers from across the UK and beyond were able to join them to rehearse and then perform the lovely Fauré Requiem.
The choir’s first concert since Christmas 2019 is entitled “Sing Joyfully” and will celebrate the return to live singing with music selected from the “lost” concert of March 2020 plus their favourites from the lockdown rehearsals. The programme ranges widely from 2Oth Century songs to music of the Rennaissance and includes lively pieces from Aaron Copland’s “Old American Songs”, Choral Dances from Benjamin Britten, luscious lilting lullabies from Estonian composer Veljo Tormis, and treasures of the choral repertoire from Byrd, Purcell, Haydn, Brahms, Elgar and more.
